Nooriya Haveliwala knew road, traffic rules well: Court

A special judge who convicted NRI beautician Nooriya Haveliwala and sentenced her to five years of rigours imprisonment in an accident case, has stressed the importance of safe driving in his judgement, noting that she knew the road well.

"Road drivers are expected to take due care... To keep safe distance is equally important," I M Bohari said yesterday in his 35-page judgement, the copy of which was made available today.

Nooriya crashed her SUV into six persons, killing two and injuring others, in January 2010. She was found to be drunk at the time.

The court observed that she knew the road and the traffic well.

"Haveliwala was a resident of Colaba and she was acquainted with roads and signals," it said.

Haveliwala's lawyers had argued that the road was dark, and a taxi was standing unexpectedly at the spot.

As to the argument that she first hit the taxi and later her car turned 180 degrees before hitting the deceased persons, the court observes that when the driver is drunk, he or she cannot take the defence that victim was not directly hit.

She was alleged to have consumed cannabis at the time too. The court, however, acquitted her of the charge under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, as the police did not follow the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court and high court regarding the collection of blood sample of the accused.